‘They Just Refused to Lose’: Recalling New Canaan Football’s Historic Undefeated 2008 Season, 10 Years Later

The year 2008 was supposed to be about rebuilding for the New Canaan Rams football program: The team was ranked in the bottom half of the FCIAC’s preseason polls and only a handful of starters from the previous season were returning. They were not expected to accomplish anything special. Yet they ended up doing exactly that, with unforeseen contributions from a particularly tight-knit squad that would post an undefeated record heading into a dramatic showdown versus New Canaan’s longtime rival before moving on to states—cementing a legacy whose storybook season launched 10 years ago this month. Behind center

One of the squad’s returning starters, tri-captain Nate Quinn, switched from defense to quarterback for 2008, marking a dramatic turnaround for what New Canaan had been fielding in recent years at the all-important position. The Rams had won consecutive state titles in 2006 and 2007 with guys like Curt Casali and Charlie Westfal at QB.

2nd Annual Overdose Awareness Vigil Draws Hundreds to Downtown New Canaan

Nearly 500 people gathered at the corner of South Avenue and Elm Street on Thursday evening to attend New Canaan’s second annual Overdose Awareness Vigil, hosted by the New Canaan Parent Support Group and the New Canaan Community Foundation. Residents of New Canaan and neighboring towns, state and local officials, professionals in recovery treatment, clergy and those in recovery and with loved ones who have encountered the pain, heartache, hardships and struggles addiction brings formed the crowd. The founder of the New Canaan Parent Support Group, Paul Reinhardt, whose son Evan’s passing in July 2015 from a drug overdose inspired him to create the group, said shared stories will keep the conversation about addiction and recovery going and, hopefully, encourage others to open up and share their struggles as well. “I think one of the most important things is having the four people from the community share their story of addiction being in their family—both all the pain that went with it and the recovery that takes place after it,” Reinhardt told NewCanaanite.com. “Even someone like me who lost his son, the chance that I’ve had to channel Evan’s memory through the New Canaan Parent Support group and an event like tonight’s is a positive story.

Life Changing Work: Documentary Film Producer Leibowitz’s Journey from New Canaan to Netflix

The art of filmmaking resonated with Adam Leibowitz at an early age—during a time when he and his family were living in New Canaan. One family member Leibowitz credits that feeling to is his father Dennis. There were numerous occasions at their home on Turtle Back Road when the elder Leibowitz would have his son watch movies with him—not just the recent releases but the timeless classics, too. “My dad definitely got me interested in older films, especially Alfred Hitchcock’s,” Leibowitz recalled on a recent afternoon. “I remember going to a screening in New York City of a restored version of Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ with him, and I think that was one of the first times I became aware of filmmaking as an art form and could be something I could aspire to do with my life.”

‘It’s the Best Gig In the World’: New Canaan’s Doug Williams Shines in TV Spotlight

Growing up in New Canaan there was nothing Doug Williams enjoyed more than playing baseball at Mead Park. “That feeling was just the best in the world for me,” Williams recalled on a recent afternoon when asked to name a significant childhood memory of New Canaan. “Weekdays or weekends, spring or summertime, it didn’t matter when I played, I just loved playing there. The nice weather, my family cheering me on from the stands, and getting food with them after the game there—I remember it all so well.” And during those games at Mead, Williams dreamed of a time when he would be able to share his enthusiasm and passion for baseball with an audience larger than the stands at Mead could hold.

New Canaan High School Class of 2018 Graduates

Back when Paul Reid was sitting among a sea of students at his high school graduation, he envisioned himself having a career teaching the nation’s youth. He didn’t see spending 25 years serving in the U.S. Coast Guard before ever even settling into said career of teaching. Reid attended the Academy, in great part, to take advantage of the opportunity to go to school—and the fact that it wouldn’t cost him a penny to do so. Yet while his initial thought was to end up elsewhere prior to graduating, Reid stuck around the full four years. His mindset then shifted to honoring his duty to the country and government, serve for five years and move on—but that wasn’t to be either.